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AE 21 or Franken Phone?

Started by RDPipes, August 04, 2022, 02:05:39 PM

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RDPipes

I purchased this phone some time back and it was advertised as a American Electric wall phone. I thought it was a AE type 21 wall phone and purchased it for under $150. I recently started getting into it
and noticed a couple of things, one the case looks more like a WE then an AE and two it has a frequency ringer. The ringer isn't what bothers me, its the case, it also has XBH stamped on it and that's all the markings I could find. It looks like everything is AE components and they all look like they've been in it from the start.
So that's what gets me, is it an AE with a strange AE case or all AE components shoved into a WE case? The later doesn't make sense to me but, what do I know? Any ideas or enlightenment is greatly appreciated.

HarrySmith

I am not familiar with AE cases but I have been in a few WE. A couple of things do not look familiar. I have marked them in the attached photo. The small section of vents on the side and the 2 "bends" in the bottom. I may be wrong but I do not recall that in the WER ones I have had.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

FABphones

Your case doesn't have that pressed oval to front, it does look more WE to my untrained eye:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=9541

Wiring diagram:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=7952

Screenshot below from this thread:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=9869

More exterior and internal images here:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=11212
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

RDPipes

#3
Thank you CJ
Well, I was afraid of that but, at least I didn't pay too much for it.
Ya know it just doesn't make much sense, I know the components inside are AE and that they've lived there their entire life.
Unless someone years ago switched cases for some odd reason.



RDPipes

#4
Quote from: HarrySmith on August 04, 2022, 02:38:02 PMI am not familiar with AE cases but I have been in a few WE. A couple of things do not look familiar. I have marked them in the attached photo. The small section of vents on the side and the 2 "bends" in the bottom. I may be wrong but I do not recall that in the WER ones I have had.

Sorry Harry, I missed your post earlier.
Hmm! now it's getting interesting, I wonder where this case came from and what HBX stands for or means.
Maybe another company an independent installed it in a generic case for their use? I'm just guessing here.
Maybe it started out as a American Electric after all?

LarryInMichigan

I bought a cobbled together wall phone a number of years ago and posted about it here.  The theory was that it may have been assembled by a shop assembling phones from assorted parts during the post-war shortage.  I eventually sold it again on ebay to a B&B owner in Scotland (believe it or not).  This phone may also have been a post-war phone.

Larry

RDPipes

#6
This may be a AE, found it in a AE catalog #4055 Jun 1934 but, doesn't state anything about the case.
Its a scan of a PDF file so please excuse the quality.

RDPipes

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on August 04, 2022, 03:55:07 PMI bought a cobbled together wall phone a number of years ago and posted about it here.  The theory was that it may have been assembled by a shop assembling phones from assorted parts during the post-war shortage.  I eventually sold it again on ebay to a B&B owner in Scotland (believe it or not).  This phone may also have been a post-war phone.

Larry

That could certainly be true of this one too Larry, wish I knew for sure.
Won't sell it because I like it, I'll keeper around for awhile at least. LOL!

HarrySmith

Your scan shows the small vent on the side that I pointed out.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

RDPipes

Quote from: HarrySmith on August 04, 2022, 04:22:59 PMYour scan shows the small vent on the side that I pointed out.
Yes sir, but I think it may be just showing that case as an example of how there conversions dial cups will fit on cases.
Not really sure its an AE but, the question also rises why they wouldn't show one of their cases if indeed this aint one of theirs. Oh well it is what it is. I like it but, I'd like it more if I knew for sure it was a AE 21, if ya know what I mean. LOL!

RDPipes

Not to beat a dead horse..........too hard but, does anyone have any idea what these two markings mean?
Just noticed the "AR".

rdelius

AR Autelco Rebuilt. Part of AE .Rebuilt sets -not just AE . Used AE parts if needed .Used custom parts for rebuilding sets. Examples are Kellogg non dial sticks modified with a base similar to a AE dial base but with a Kellogg switch. Most AR sets  were built late 30s and during WW2 when no sets were built for civilian use and so  sets were repaired or assembled from whatever parts were available or obsolete sets  modernized

RDPipes

Thank you sir, that explains a lot.

FABphones

This case looks like it might be a match?

WE Apartment Phone:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=23038

Your phone to top, Apartment Phone to bottom. Same vents, circled.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

rdelius

It might have been a subset also .It is a WE  shell.I do not think of these sets as "frankenphones" .They were rebuilt from whatever parts in a an AE  factory to overcome wartime shortages.